Generator Brands

[Spam16v]

Cummins, CAT, Penn/Detroit, Kohler, Generac. In that order. If you just want backup, it's not life-safety and don't have to meet NFPA level 1 just go buy a Generac and when it breaks throw it away and buy another. Personally I would be going diesel over CNG. Trying to get enough gas pressure and stable is a pita depending where it's going. Residential vs. industrial, little more cost, but I consider it more durable/reliable than a converted gas engine in the long haul. Cummins Owns Stamford and AVK, they make their own back ends. Kohler, Generac and the like buy whatever they can get cheap, buy three units at the same time and get three different back ends, three different versions of engines and none use the same parts. Then you try to get parts... Ask me how I know, I do this every day. Cummins over Cat just b/c I work for Cummins, but I like green more than yellow too.

 

[cowboyjosh]

I did a 50kw KOHLER on my house, covers everything. I would have done a 20kw, but I have 3 separate panels on my house, 1 a feed thru, 2 a main in the basement, 3rd sub panel in the garage that covers the garage side of the house and the bonus room over the garage.

To gather up the critical circuits would've been a PITA, so I just bought the biggest one I could to cover the whole shooting match. Did the MPAC1500 controller and the remote annunciator with transfer switch control.

The OP is not out of line with a 20-25kw unit.

As far as brands go, I like both Generac and Kohler, I've owned both, and if I had to pick I think the KOHLER has a better fit and finish, power is remarkably clean (everything works on generator power, with the Generac at the old house computer UPS units and Monster surge protectors didn't agree with generator power, neither did the LUTRON lighting system dimmers).

 

[Karl Fields]

If the Generac unit does not have utility supplied power to it, the warranty is void. The air cooled units are sold as backup power, and to be a backup, you guessed it - you must have a primary power. Go figure

I'm sorry I don't even know what this means? Can you explain the part about the *without external power to the unit, the warranty is void*

Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of the back up generator? There is no power, hence why you have an alternate power source!

Insight

Teken . . .

 

[MScott]

If the Generac unit does not have utility supplied power to it, the warranty is void. The air cooled units are sold as backup power, and to be a backup, you guessed it - you must have a primary power. Go figure

If you are "off grid" are you depending entirely on the generator for power or do you have a "primary" power source such as solar or wind power? My generator is backup to my primary solar system. (I am also off grid.)

 

[Teken]

If you are "off grid" are you depending entirely on the generator for power or do you have a "primary" power source such as solar or wind power? My generator is backup to my primary solar system. (I am also off grid.)

What brand generator do you have and did it impact your warranty?

Teken . . .

 

[Teken]

I did a 50kw KOHLER on my house, covers everything. I would have done a 20kw, but I have 3 separate panels on my house, 1 a feed thru, 2 a main in the basement, 3rd sub panel in the garage that covers the garage side of the house and the bonus room over the garage.

To gather up the critical circuits would've been a PITA, so I just bought the biggest one I could to cover the whole shooting match. Did the MPAC1500 controller and the remote annunciator with transfer switch control.

The OP is not out of line with a 20-25kw unit.

As far as brands go, I like both Generac and Kohler, I've owned both, and if I had to pick I think the KOHLER has a better fit and finish, power is remarkably clean (everything works on generator power, with the Generac at the old house computer UPS units and Monster surge protectors didn't agree with generator power, neither did the LUTRON lighting system dimmers).

Where both of these units considered to provide clean *pure sine wave* power? If so, you're saying the Generac units did not produce clean enough 60 hz line power during use?

Model and year if you please.

Teken . . .

 

[Karl Fields]

Yes our generator is our sole power source. Would have liked to get solar installed, but it was either solar or a new garage
Oddly enough, costs were similar!

If you are "off grid" are you depending entirely on the generator for power or do you have a "primary" power source such as solar or wind power? My generator is backup to my primary solar system. (I am also off grid.)

 

[CNGsaves]

If the Generac unit does not have utility supplied power to it, the warranty is void. The air cooled units are sold as backup power, and to be a backup, you guessed it - you must have a primary power. Go figure

Yep . . . what that means is manufacturer knows that gen set will fail if it runs all the time!! It will last for years ONLY if it's sparingly used, or not at all.

Get a diesel gen set if you want it to run non-stop . . . or a high-end Kohler propane / natural gas powered gen set.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

I'd get a diesel Onan/Cummins and then go from there. I would NOT get a LPG geset unless your next door neighbor works for the LPG company, and will be tapping onto it, they will eat your lunch on a long outage. I used to work for a Cummins distributor, Onan is the Cadillac of generators. The wiring has written on it where it originates and where it terminates on each end. It tells you where it starts and stops from either end. You get what you pay for with a generator. An old JC series ONAN 10KW-15KW will run forever, they are what made ONAN if you ask me. A lot of cell towers run a 50DGCA Cummins/ONAN. I'd look around for a used one, they are powered by a 4BT Cummins, like comes in a bread truck.

 

[cowboyjosh]

Where both of these units considered to provide clean *pure sine wave* power? If so, you're saying the Generac units did not produce clean enough 60 hz line power during use?

Model and year if you please.

Teken . . .

2006 Generac Guardian series, 17kw unit; never could get the unit to put out a consistent 60 Hertz; Lutron Radio Ra2 wouldn't work, and the Monster surge protectors would trip out on generator power. With the newer Kohler everything works as though I have utility power.

I know the newer Generac units are a helluva lot more refined then my old unit was, so you may get a consistent 60 Hertz off a newer unit.

 

[TheEquineFencer]

Cummins, CAT, Penn/Detroit, Kohler, Generac. In that order. If you just want backup, it's not life-safety and don't have to meet NFPA level 1 just go buy a Generac and when it breaks throw it away and buy another. Personally I would be going diesel over CNG. Trying to get enough gas pressure and stable is a pita depending where it's going. Residential vs. industrial, little more cost, but I consider it more durable/reliable than a converted gas engine in the long haul. Cummins Owns Stamford and AVK, they make their own back ends. Kohler, Generac and the like buy whatever they can get cheap, buy three units at the same time and get three different back ends, three different versions of engines and none use the same parts. Then you try to get parts... Ask me how I know, I do this every day. Cummins over Cat just b/c I work for Cummins, but I like green more than yellow too.

LOL I just went back and read your post again. You're dead on the money. I just went to a cell site that had a brand new MTU, formerly Katolight, it had 1 hour run time, was load banked at 100% at start up and ran fine from what I was told. It will not run the site. It has too much "trash" on the line from the cell tower from the massive UPS system and it's screwing up the Digital controls. It's a 4 lead only generator end. I talked with Roger at MTU and he said the only way they knew to "fix" the problem was to go to 12 lead end, wired Double Delta with a PMG generator and a differant Voltage regulator. I think he got a little pissed when I asked him, "so basically put a generator end and controls on it like an ONAN?" Rogers a nice guy, I guess I could have exspressed it another way, but I'm blunt and to the point a lot of the times. You get what you pay for.

 

[Rookie2]

two total different worlds, home power units and UPS compatible gensets. maybe the engineer that spec'd the genset at the cell company was a little wet behind the ears !

 

[TheEquineFencer]

two total different worlds, home power units and UPS compatible gensets. maybe the engineer that spec'd the genset at the cell company was a little wet behind the ears !

I 've run into this a few times. Down in Brunswich County,NC several years back, they bought a bunch of RS12000 Onan LPG units to use in substations for back up power. These were home stand-by units. The small UPS systems inside there only had a +/- 1Hz window. Loose power UPS went active, generator started, hit 60Hz, ATs transfered load to generator, UPS saw a good power source and cut off, generator was hit with a load and dropped below 59Hz for a split second, while generator was throttling up, UPS went active, removing the load from the generator, as the generator was swinging past 60Hz, UPS cuts off, load goes to generator that's now backing throttle off because of no-load, get's hit with a load,... well see see how that went. They kept blowing VRs and Gov controls from the wild spikes. That site with the MTU, it has a cheap VR and it cannot handle the "trash" on the line, it looses referance and thinks it has a higher voltage than it does, sets the voltage down, then the generator bogs down, goes under Hz and shuts down.